Voters Weigh in on Pot, Fees and Climate Change

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California voters don’t want recreational marijuana smoking in the state but do want the budget passed by a simple majority. Other clear messages from this election: voters don’t want to pay more for their vehicle registration, even if given the incentive of free access to parks but the state’s landmark global warming law will stay as is.

With 19 precincts reporting, Proposition 19, the measure that would make it legal for adults over 21 to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use and to grow pot gardens up to 25 acres, was tracking toward defeat with a 56 percent no vote.

Climate change, the campaign's other hot-button issue, also appeared to be failing with a 58 percent no vote. Proposition 23 sought to postpone the 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act, which would impose industrial emission limits starting in 2012 and mandate fossil fuel energy reductions by 2020.

Proposition 25, which would lower the legislative vote threshold for adopting the state budget from a two-thirds to a simple majority, received a 55 percent approval rate with 89% of the precincts reporting.

The state's budget crisis spawned several other initiatives. Proposition 21 would levy an $18 surcharge on motor vehicle registration to compensate for funding cuts to state parks. In exchange, cars with state license plates would get free admission. Fifty-eight percent of voters rejected that measure.

Voters approved Proposition 22, closing loopholes that last year allowed Sacramento to siphon $5.5 billion temporarily from local governments, and Proposition 26 mandating that new fees be adopted with a two-thirds majority vote, instead of a simple majority.

Almost 60 percent of voters were against Proposition 24, which would have repeal three corporate tax breaks that save businesses $1.3 billion a year. Businesses opposed the measure.

Propositions 20 and 27 are opposing measures that would determine how the state's legislative and congressional districts are drawn for the 2012 elections. Proposition 20 seeks to have a 14-member citizens commission draw the congressional districts, while 27 would abolish the panel altogether.

Proposition 20 was leading with 61 percent of voters approving the idea, while Proposition 27 was being defeated with 59 percent.